Five for Friday

Happy Friday! It's been a fun week in third grade. We had our production of 101 Dalmatians last night and it was adorable! I'm so proud of those kiddos :)

These five updates are from that past two weeks since we've been so busy! Link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share your five updates from the week.

Jokes on jokes on jokes!

I have a joke board in the hallway and love finding good math jokes to put up. Here's this weeks chuckle!

Our science unit- all about plants!

We've been learning all about plant structures and how plants grow in different environments. We've planted seeds, harvested thyme from our aquaponic garden, and fed insects to our venus flytrap! I've also put QR codes next to our plants with links to research websites. The kiddos are loving it! I've never seen such excited third graders doing research :)

Polya's Problem Solving

I was talking to a co-worker about finding a good problem solving strategy to tackle word problems. I'd been using the three reads strategy which is great for students struggling to understand the problem, but I needed another strategy for my students who could understand the problems but may make careless mistakes or not show their work. She mentioned Polya's book, How to Solve It, and the four steps to problem solving. I'm still reading the book but we've started trying out the strategy and I love it! My students have steps to follow that are easy to remember and they can check off, but it's more than just circling numbers or underlining key words- my students are THINKING about the problem, coming up with a plan to solve, and CHECKING THEIR WORK! It's a beautiful thing! The white boards show all the different strategies to solve the same problem! We did a gallery walk so kiddos could see how their friends solved and checked, and we discussed our favorite strategies and how we could look at their work and understand what they did. Woohoo!!

We have had a blast playing this game to review our 1-6 multiplication facts!

If you're looking for a fun way for your students to practice you can get a free copy of this game here: https://games4gains.com/blogs/teaching-ideas/multiplication-squares-game

Farm update!

Our girl "Hot Mess" is due a couple days after Easter! Shes precious!

Have a great weekend! Spring break is near my friends!

Rock on,

Diana

Five for Friday

Happy Veteran's Day! Thankful for all of those who have served and serve today! I know our great country has been on everyone's mind this week. As I reflect over the week in our classroom I can't help but be thankful to have the freedom to do what I love thanks to our veterans!

It's been almost two months since my last five for friday.. or any post for that matter! Teaching has been kicking my butt and it's been a tough few months but as I reflected I realized that many of the tough things that come with our jobs are blessings and we're not alone in feeling overwhelmed. I just have to remind myself of that sometimes! I shared some of those thoughts yesterday in my post: http://dianarowland.blogspot.com/2016/11/when-teaching-kicks-your-butt.html

We've started with our multiplication facts in third grade!

 

We fill up this monster on the door every time they pass a fact! They get to write their name on the piece they add. This is a great motivator, but doesn't point out anyone who takes a little longer to master their facts. 

I've also turned my desk into a little muliplication station! I put command hooks on the sides and used plastic sleeves from amazon (aff link included!) to place their facts inside. Each color is a different fact, so students grab whatever they're working on and use a dry erase marker. The back has the answers so they usually hold it out to another person and read off their answers while the other person checks. I get the sheets from math-aides.com 

I may have posted about my joke board before, but even so, I'm having so much fun with it I can't help but revisit some of the jokes posted this year! I've put this dry erase board above the hooks in the hall where students hang their book bag. The intended purpose of this board at the beginning of the year was for reminders, updates, and since it's magnetic I figured I could put pictures of the kids up there every now and again. However, I found this board had a much higher purpose... math jokes. 

I just wrote this last one yesterday after school. I look forward to the chuckles Monday morning, but also some of my students actually solving it to show me they know the answer!

Now that our third graders are getting into the multiplication, the word problems are becoming trickier. Students in the past just had to figure out if it was addition or subtraction... now cue the multiplication and division problems that use many of the same key words! I've been exploring a few different problem solving strategies and would love other teachers' input as to which you've found to be the best!

Here's some that I've used in the past... trying to decide! Maybe you know a different one that's worked well for your class!

The 3 reads is what I used last year, that I got from Simply Skilled in Second  and I really feel this helped my students understand what was going on in the problem. Plus it's only 3 steps! Only thing is there's no acronym to remember the steps.. So that's why I shortened the description of the steps here on my anchor chart. 

A teacher I worked with last year used this strategy and it worked extremely well for her students! It sort of combines the CUBES with the thinking portion by having the "action plan". 

My current plan is to stick with the 3 Reads, but for the second read they can also circle the numbers while they think of what they mean, and the 3rd read they can underline the question. I really believe that if they can picture the situation that the math story presents and what those numbers mean to the situation, it will make it easier to formulate that action plan and solve! 

Farm update!

Well, we're working on clearing the land for the future R&R farm! We've cleared the trees, burned the brush, and are now making piles of sticks to burn before we dig up stumps and plant some grass. Next steps would be to build the barn so we can move the animals. I doubt anyone will want to buy our current house with goats in the backyard :) Well.. I would.. but not most people!

We still have to prepare for winter here in the meantime. We covered the chicken coop in greenhouse plastic to cut back on the wind and help with the convection process inside! This was great to talk with my students about while learning about heat transfer! 

Hot Mess likes to think she's being helpful.

WA-LA! It has an opening at the top peak for ventilation, but oh man, I just walked in there this morning to feed the chickens and it was considerably warmer in there! I need to get one of those outdoor thermometers to see just what the difference is. Either way, we have some happy chickens!

Thanks for catching up with me, and I hope you've had a great week! If it's been a little rough, then hey, don't forget to check out http://dianarowland.blogspot.com/2016/11/when-teaching-kicks-your-butt.html and know you're not alone!

Happy Friday!!

-Diana

Drill and Thrill

Ok "thrill" may be a strong word when it comes to learning math facts but we try to make it as fun as possible! My class does 1 minute timed tests which have their pros and cons. Pros- kids are fluent and fast with their facts. The more they practice and repeat them quickly the more chances of becoming long term memory. Cons- stressful. I certainly don't want my students to hate and dread the facts test. However, there is such thing as good stress. Having a small amount of excitement helps you reach your potential and push yourself. Without it, things can become boring. This makes me think of competitive games. Yes you want to work to win, but if there's too much pressure it can cause too much stress. So here's the idea- timed tests have no weight on their grades and there's no timeline that they have to meet all their goals by. Each time a student passes a fact test (30 questions in 1 minute) they can add a piece to our multiplication monsters! Each child does not have their own monster, so comparisons aren't made. The focus is on making personal growth, rather than keep up with classmates. Check out how much our monsters have grown since we started!

Since everyone is working at their own level, I had to find a way to keep track of who is where. The picture below is the chart I keep. This also helps me see if a kiddo is stuck on a particular fact. If I see a student who's spent 2 weeks on a fact I try to watch them carefully while they test. If they just can't write fast I will give them a quick oral quiz and if they know their facts they move on. They shouldn't stay back just because they can't write fast. You'll also be able to pick up on who usually does well but didn't study their facts that week. Those kiddos just need a little nudge and reminder that I've noticed how they usually do well and I ask how they practice at home. That usually does it!

So how do we practice?

Games! Some fun competition with their friends and with themselves.

We use timers and plastic sleeves to practice their facts in a minute. The answers are on the back to check their work. Many students like to race, or keep track of their time to see if they can get faster. The pages are color coded so students can work on whatever fact they're on.

Students also use these nifty bracelets with their facts so they can practice on the go! It's the perfect go-to when we're waiting at the bathrooms or have packed up early!

My students have also enjoyed playing bump games, which has games for every fact they're working on for instant differentiation! We played as a whole class lesson first so that everyone was clear on the rules and could handle playing independently in centers.

If you're looking for a way to recycle and make your games for cheap, then start saving your bottle caps! I used garage sale stickers and bottle caps to make this simple game. They are color coded by the facts, so students can reach in the bucket for a green cap if they're working on 4's. If they can answer the fact (answer under the cap) they keep it. Winner has the most caps at the end!

Another fun game for cheap is power towers! The math facts are on the side of the cup with the answer on the bottom. As they collect cups they can build a tower with them. The tallest tower wins! Store this nifty game in an old Pringles can and call it a day :)

Looking for more of a technology route? I bought the "I can" QR task card games from "The One Stop Teacher Shop". My kiddos LOVE it! They answer questions for various math topics (including multiplication and division) and scan the QR code on each card to see the correct answer. I'm a big fan and highly recommend you check out her games!

There's also several apps out there that offer practice in a fun way. Quizlet is great for flash cards, but my students really love the apps that make it more of a game.

Here's some of the apps we love:

-Sushi monster

-Wonder Bunny

-Math Zombies

-Math duel (this is great if you have limited tablets- two play on one device)

-Monkey Math

Last but not least, we've got to keep the fun coming at home. I made these homework sheets like a "math menu" where students can pick and choose activities to do at home. These games don't require many materials but some do require a lot of parent interaction. Thanks to the options and choices though, if a kiddo works on homework alone there's still plenty they can do to get in their practice.

Check it out here.

So that's a little glimpse of how we practice our math facts in my classroom! Please share some activities you do with your class. I'm always looking to mix it up!

Rock on,

Diana